Police Break Up Eagle Party at Safeway

A flock of eagles descended on the Safeway parking lot last week, prompting police intervention.

Public Safety Director Jamie Sunderland says several people called in short succession on Thursday afternoon to report the melee.

“One of our officers went over there and there were 40 eagles sitting on, in and around several vehicles in the area,” Sunderland said.

Sunderland says the eagles were feasting on garbage bags of fish product in the bed of a pickup truck. Public Safety contacted the truck owner:

“Who confirmed they did have a bunch of fillets in the car, and they were trying to get rid of it, but there were so many eagles that they were, I think, somewhat alarmed to go near the vehicle, because it was just being swarmed by eagles,” Sunderland said.

Jessica Earnshaw’s car was parked next to the truck, and she says she was afraid of getting attacked if she got too close.

“I put my car alarm on so maybe that would let the eagles go away, but they still didn’t,” Earnshaw said.

When Officer Bill Simms arrived, Earnshaw says he put on his sirens, which scared off some of the eagles, and then he went into the fray.

“He’s like, ‘okay, you two, just get your keys ready and then when I shoo them away, run into your cars.’ And we did,” Earnshaw said.

No one got hurt, and Sunderland says the truck owner wasn’t cited for the incident because the fish didn’t make a mess in the parking lot:

“It was just making a giant gathering of eagles, so the answer was to get the waste out of there, and that’s what they did,” Sunderland said.